Silence speaks of Castro’s ability to be disciplined

HUD Secretary Julian Castro, left, is greeted by Governor Andrew Cuomo and a standing ovation after he addressed the Governor's Regional Conference on Sustainable Community Development Tuesday Nov. 29, 2016 in Schenectady, N.Y. (Skip Dickstein/Times Union) less

HUD Secretary Julian Castro, left, is greeted by Governor Andrew Cuomo and a standing ovation after he addressed the Governor's Regional Conference on Sustainable Community Development Tuesday Nov. 29, 2016 in ... more

Photo: SKIP DICKSTEIN, Staff Photographer / Albany Times Union

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FILE -- Julian Castro, the Housing and Urban Development secretary, applauds President Barack ObamaÕs remarks during a civil rights summit in Austin, Texas, April 10, 2014. Castro, a former mayor of San Antonio considered a rising star in the Democratic Party, is reportedly on the short list of names Hillary ClintonÕs campaign is considering as a potential running mate. (Doug Mills/The New York Times) less

FILE -- Julian Castro, the Housing and Urban Development secretary, applauds President Barack ObamaÕs remarks during a civil rights summit in Austin, Texas, April 10, 2014. Castro, a former mayor of San ... more

Photo: DOUG MILLS, STF / NYT

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Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and former San Antonio mayor Julian Castro speaks during the 2016 Texas Democratic Convention held Friday June 17, 2016 at the Alamodome.

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and former San Antonio mayor Julian Castro speaks during the 2016 Texas Democratic Convention held Friday June 17, 2016 at the Alamodome.

Photo: Edward A. Ornelas, Staff / San Antonio Express-News

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Julian Castro, secretary of U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD), speaks during a House Financial Services Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, July 13, 2016. Distressed Asset Stabilization Program recoveries were 16% higher than recoveries on assets conveyed through traditional foreclosure action in last fiscal year, Castro said. Photographer: Pete Marovich/Bloomberg less

Julian Castro, secretary of U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD), speaks during a House Financial Services Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, July 13, 2016. Distressed Asset ... more

Photo: Pete Marovich / Bloomberg

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Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, left, and former Mayor Julian Castro greet supporters at a rally on Thursday, Oct. 15, 2015 at Sunset Station in San Antonio.

Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, left, and former Mayor Julian Castro greet supporters at a rally on Thursday, Oct. 15, 2015 at Sunset Station in San Antonio.

Photo: BOB OWEN, Staff / San Antonio Express-News

Silence speaks of Castro’s ability to be disciplined

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Julián Castro isn’t talking.

For the former mayor, it’s a familiar silence. This time, he won’t talk about a new political action committee he formed called Opportunity First. At least for now, Castro is declining to speak to any media about the new PAC and whether it’s a launching pad for a presidential run in 2020.

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That could be the greatest indication that it’s a lanching pad for a presidential run in 2020.

In the past, Castro’s silence has spoken volumes. He tends to hibernate from media when reporters start to probe his major decisions prematurely — or at least sooner than he would like.

Take 2014, for example. I’d learned Castro had accepted an offer from former President Barack Obama to join his Cabinet, but the soon-to-depart mayor refused to comment or confirm the news.

I’m not the only one to grapple with Castro’s quiescence.

In 2015, a profile in The Atlantic of Castro and his twin brother, U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, took note of this shared tendency. Author Andy Kroll wrote that he “found the brothers exceedingly careful, even for political wunderkinds on the rise, to cloak their candid sides.”

“In almost every conversation we had,” Kroll continued, “they danced back and forth between being on the record and off the record — sometimes from one sentence to the next. By the end of our time together, I half expected them to begin their lunch orders by asking the waiter, ‘Can this be on background?’”

Of course, all this shows a remarkable capacity for discipline and nuance.

But what do discipline and nuance have to do with politics anymore? Our new president is a man who rose to power spraying invective at whoever crossed his path, whether a Gold Star family or a fellow Republican or a female news anchor.

And if the unfolding crisis with North Korea has taught us anything up to this point, it’s that President Donald Trump will improvise even when millions of lives are at stake. His red line with the isolated Asian nation remains murky, but anyone can draw a clear line from Trump’s past behavior to his ongoing refusal to treat a nuclear-armed enemy any differently than he does Rosie O’Donnell or Sen. Mitch McConnell.

Take his “grab ’em by the (expletive)” quip in 2005.

During his presidential campaign, Trump dismissed the infamous “Access Hollywood” recording as nothing more than “locker room banter.” But it revealed in Trump a quality that now continues to animate his presidency: a reckless hyper-masculinity that won’t allow for strategic caution.

As president, Trump treats the world like a giant locker room.

Castro, on the other hand, seems most at ease in a library: Shhhhh!

The question now is whether the loudmouthed model of Trump is a fluke or a way forward. Have American politics jumped the shark, or will quiet dignity stage a comeback?

2018 could provide some answers.

Kid Rock has announced that he’s running for U.S. Senate, presumably in Michigan. The bleating, rapping rock star from Detroit (real name Robert James Ritchie) is an avid Trump supporter, as well as an avowed lover of booze, “hoes” and flashy jewelry. In April, he visited the White House with fellow loudmouths Sarah Palin and Ted Nugent.

Here in Texas, Thor Harris, an Austin-based musician, announced on Friday that he would challenge Gov. Greg Abbott next year. (Julián Castro declined to do so.) Harris previously made news when he posted a tutorial on how to punch Nazis and was suspended from Twitter.

Perhaps, as America tumbles further down the rabbit hole, an unreserved approach to politics has grown more appealing to an increasingly angry, polarized and freaked-out populace.

Perhaps I would have found it incredibly satisfying, both as a reporter and a concerned citizen, if, when I called Castro on Friday to ask whether he formed his new PAC as a launching pad for a presidential run in 2020, he had simply replied, “Yes, cuz (expletive) this.”

Instead, we all will have to wait a little longer for Castro to speak.